The Cure is Drawing Realistically, aru
by vanillasyrup
Summary: China wakes up in a hospital unable to think straight until the pain sets in from second degree burns on his left arm and leg. Once he's settled, Korea asks him the obligitory question about the event, and it strikes him there. What happened?
1. Arriving

Everything came to me in waves.

It started with light. A bright one. It passed by quickly followed by another with the same outcome. I knew I wasn't dead because of the second feeling I got.

Then pain. My entire left arm, leg and part of my chin stung like I've never felt before. A few small spots I didn't feel anything at all.

And lastly, sound. The sound of rolling wheels filled the hallway I was in as well as the constant yelling and chatter of doctors in distress. One touched my leg and I wanted to scream from the pain, but nothing more than a raspy screech came out. I felt a hand take my only normal hand and hold it.

"Hang in there, Aniki…"

The voice was South Korea constantly saying over and over in his native language. He was terrified to the point that his eyes watered. I focused on him until I noticed another stretcher in front of mine turn into a set of doors. The wavy-brunette haired girl on the bed looked a little young and weak, and her entire right leg and arm looked cinged. They had a mask over her and her eyes were closed. Before I had a chance to process whom that girl might be, another doctor had a mask over my nose and mouth and I was out again.

I came back in a similar way to the last one, only sound took a lot longer to become clear, and I noticed I was admitted in. The sliding glass door read "UCI," which probably meant I was in an intensive care unit. My hair also was down, which made me wonder what happened to the hairtie. South Korea was anxiously sitting in a chair against the wall staring directly at me, and someone that looked like Hong Kong opened up the sliding door and came in. It looked like he was talking to Korea, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. He looked over at me, and left saying that he'd be back, the only words that registered in my mind. I moaned and winced feeling the pain set back in, but this time around it was a lot less concentrated. I tried to lift my arm to scratch my head, but I couldn't bend my elbow from needles sticking into my skin. Morphine, I thought. I was on morphine and it didn't kill out all of the pain.

"ANIKI!!!" Korea yelled, bursting to my side. He was the only one there.

"Not so loud aru…" I said in a raspy voice, coughing harshly afterwards.

"How do you feel?" I leaned back and just stared at him. I seriously felt worse than I have ever felt before. And the best part was I began to feel nauseous. I closed my eyes and moaned to answer him.

"That bad?"

I nodded.

"I'd leave you alone but the doctor asked me to give you water when you wake up. You're really dehydrated right now." He reached over to the side table next to the chair he was sitting in and handed me a paper cup. I sipped the contents, while South Korea pulled up a chair.

"So, do you remember anything?" He finally smiled, more relaxed than before. For some reason, it made me feel a little more relaxed myself. If Korea was serious at anything, then it was a drop-dead-this-is-serious-no-joke kind of situation.

"Before the hospital, aru?"

"Yeah."

I thought back, and I couldn't think of anything. I knew I didn't just go to bed and then wake up on a stretcher. Then it hit me, I had a little rice and pork buns for breakfast. It was something, and to me that was better than nothing. I knew I wasn't burned like this then, because I gave my panda his breakfast with my left hand, and that was affected. So what happened after? I think I went in to work for something, I felt rushed to get over to my bosses' office. A major meeting maybe? I answered.

"I remember breakfast and leaving, aru."

"Alright. So the impact killed your short term memory of that."

"Impact, aru?"

"I don't think you can feel it, but you also bruised your back badly falling from the second floor with someone I haven't seen before. You were knocked out when you hit the ground." I never felt the bruises, even before I was on the painkillers. I would of reached back if I could bend my elbow effectively, but I believed him for the time being. I reached over for the water on the table in front of me, and as soon as I touched the paper cup I paused for a second.

"Did the doctor say anything about side affects of Morphine, aru?"

"Yeah. Why?"

I cussed in Chinese, leaned over the side where my burns were and vomited. After a few minutes, a few nurses came in and cleaned up, and left a bucket on the side if it happened again, and sure enough it was on and off for hours. I was happy to have Korea with me through it, and by the time I finally finished, I was too tired to even think. The doctor came in and forced South Korea out because of my current condition. I managed to wave bye, but soon after I fell asleep again.


	2. Ironic, isn't it?

I woke up the next day to find out that they didn't take out all of the broken glass in my leg the first time they put me through surgery. I didn't even know I had glass shards embedded in my leg, or went into surgery at all. I sighed, and allowed it to happen, and when I came out an hour later, Korea was in my ICU waiting for me with Hong Kong.

And they had balloons. And flowers. And cards from Viet, Japan and to my surprise, Taiwan. I felt myself blush from all of the love placed around the room for me. Once I was situated back in bed Korea threw the card from Japan like a dark at me, and I froze from startlement. The envelope wedged itself into the side of my bed.

"What the heck was that for, aru!" I yelled, coughing a little afterwards.

"I figured you'd be able to figure who it was from if I threw it like one of those Japanese darts at you!"

"I didn't need that, you know, aru…" I picked it up and opened it, nothing too special. I smiled since it didn't seem like something he'd do. I opened the rest of the cards, leaving the last one Taiwan's. The inside was handwritten, and Korea shoved himself over my shoulder to read.

"Yao,

I heard what happened, and am sorry to see you like that. I have a co-worker whose being hospitalized in the same area, and I noticed the damages while you were asleep. and I saw her too, she's even worse. It'll take a while, but I'm sure you'll be fine in the end. After all, it's only second degree burns. But don't take this like I want to come back. Me and my Taiwan'll always stay separate. But I'll say human-to-human that I wish you well.

--Taiwan

I didn't know whether to smile or not. She hates me and my country to no end, but yet I was happy that she was human enough to wish me well. I placed it to the side and laid back in the upright bed. I was feeling much better than yesterday's events, but not enough to get up and walk around just yet. I also found I could lift my burned arm and leg and bend it at least, which was a start. I wasn't too sure if I could stand just yet though. Both started to blister up.

"Did you remember anything? I heard you have amnesia." Hong Kong asked.

"Not just yet." I said. "All I know is there was a fire that I was involved in, and there was someone named Xifeng involved aru."

"You don't remember Xifeng?" Korea looked confused. Shit, I was supposed to remember about someone? "Taiwan mentions her in the letter."

"So that's 'her,' aru?"

"Yeah. She looked like she wanted to tell you something." HK muttered.

I had no idea who they were talking about, and in a strange way it upset me. I knew this person and she wanted to tell me something important, and I had no idea who she was, or what she wanted to tell me if she told me already. I swing my legs around the bed.

"What the hell are you doing?" Korea grabbed my shoulders, touching a burned part. It stung slightly.

"I'm going to see this girl. She's in the room next to me, right, aru?" I stood up, and my foot stung like nothing I've felt before yesterday, and I collapsed onto the floor, shocked enough to stop breathing. Korea helped me back up onto the bed.

"Your leg might not look that bad, but your ankle and the top of your foot have a few third degree burns and second degree that's even worse than the rest of your leg and arm."

I sat there looking down on my arm and leg, the two things that landed me there in the first place, and I punched my right leg. I couldn't find out whom this girl was because of that I lost my short-term memory of the event. And I couldn't even see her because I couldn't walk. This was going to kill me until I meet her face to face.

I laid back down in defeat and talked with Hong Kong and Korea about other things to get it off of my mind. A nurse came in about an hour later and applied a cream to my chin, arm and leg that was supposed to help the healing process. It stung like a bitch.

"Aniki! You look funny with your face like that!" He snapped a picture with a camera I didn't even know he had with him.

"How about you try getting burned aru!" I belted back. "With…morphine this hurts…nnngh…as much as I first came aru!"

"Oh!" The nurse said to her surprise. "That means it wore off." She pressed a button on the side of my bed, and within minutes the pain settled. I sighed in relief.

I leaned back and closed my eyes. "Shiea shiea, aru…"

She finished and said she'd be back in a little bit. By now, it was a little late, and HK and Korea were told to leave. That's also when I realized that I knew why the nausea went away.

I woke up at around 2 in the morning feeling extremely sick and I leaned over the bed to grab the bucket. I laid there for about an hour in pain that the Morphine couldn't take off, and I threw up from three until around seven in the morning, when Korea arrived. A nurse took the bucket away and replaced it, and Korea sat down in his usual spot.

"Don't you have anything better to do, aru?" I said a little mad at the whole situation. I was tired, burned badly, and I couldn't remember anything that took me there, the girl, and to top it all off I had the taste of acid in my mouth.

"Calm down, Aniki." Korea said, leaning down on his lap to meet face-to-face with me. "Your breath smells putrid."

"Sheia sheia, aru." I said sarcastically. "I've been vomiting for the past four hours, aru."

"I'll get you some water then." Korea got up and left. I leaned back in bed and closed my eyes, falling asleep. Korea came back with the water and shook my leg until I awoke.

"I don't want your teeth to decay. Drink this."

I drank the water and laid back again, one hand on my sore stomach. I was hungry, but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it down for a few hours. I talked with Korea from this position until they forced food into me. I felt nauseous again after, but I kept it down fine. That's when Korea threw it on my lap.

"I brought your sketchpad."

"Did you bring anything to draw with, aru?"

"Of course, silly!" He placed a dull pencil on top. I sweatdropped and sighed, but it was something to do. I opened it up to pictures I've finished and abandoned, and then found a clean page to start something on. Korea dragged the chair up to watch.

"Who're you drawing?"

"I dunno. Some girl I suppose."

We sat there for about an hour and a half before Korea had to scout out a pencil sharpner, and to get to one a nurse had to come in and see what I drew. She brought a few friends who complemented me, until one broke the ice.

"She looks like the girl in the ICU next to you."

"W-What, aru?" I was shocked.

"Yeah. Same hairstyle and everything."

I was shocked. I was drawing some girl and it turned out to be her. I looked back down on the picture and I thought it did look a little bit like Xi'an…

Xi'an.

The girl had to be Xi'an.


End file.
